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GCSE Citizenship Studies

Unit 1: Rights and Responsibilities

2014/2015Revision Pack

Human Rights

A human right is a right/freedom that you are entitled to simplybecause you are human

Human Rights

People all over the world suffer because their basic needs are not met. Nobody should live without basic Human Rights they are the right to.....

Education Work Fair work conditions Travel Food & clothes

Healthcare Freedom of association Own property Follow your religion

Marry and have children Freedom of speech Freedom of political belief

Minorities should be treated the same as the majority

The United Nations & human rights

The UN developed two statements on human rights:-

  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) – UDHR states that everyone has a right to life and liberty, freedom of speech and movement, a fair wage, a fair trial, education and many other
  • Convention on the Rights of the Child (1981) CRC– governments should think about the needs of young people and to consult them on matters that affect them such as education. The CRC says that young people must have their own rights, that don’t depend on parents or other adults

Many countries in the world now belong to the UN. However, the rules of the declaration cannot be enforced legally unless a country has them embedded into the country’s own laws

Key words

Human rights: things that people are morally or legally entitled to

United Nations: An international organisation that tries to encourage peace, co-operation and friendship between countries

Convention: an agreement (often between governments)

Declaration: this is a document setting down aims and intentions

Barriers to freedom

Prejudice and discrimination

Unfair treatment could mean all sorts of things. For example, it may be that people don’t get offered jobs or are kept out of clubs and refused entry into places.

Key Words

Racism – the idea that some people of different origins are not as good as others

Homophobic – fearing or hating homosexuals

Inclusive education – schooling that includes everyone, regardless of any physical or mental problems

Organisations that work to overcome prejudice

Lancaster Youth and Community Service – set up for gay and lesbian people to help them cope with homophobic bullying. A place where they can be themselves

‘Kick it out’ – footballs anti-racism campaign. Sir Alex Ferguson supports this campaign he believes education is the way forward to reducing racism

Young and powerful – is supported by Comic Relief for disabled and non-disabled people. They campaign for inclusive education (all students taught in mainstream schools)

Identities

Conflicting Loyalties

Britain has one of the highest rates of dual heritage or mixed race relationships in the world. Most people would say that cultural diversity is a good thing, but the mixing of races and nationalities can sometimes cause conflict.

For example, your mother is Irish your father is Chinese, you were born in Paris but you live n London – where are you from?

If a Catholic marries a Muslim what religion should your children belong to?

If your mother is English but your father is German, who should you support in the world cup?

Identity cards

Some countries such as France have identity cards. This card gives of your name, address and date of birth.An identity card however can only show a limited range of information about you. Some governments use these as you can be easily identified.

Key Words

Duel Heritage: People with parents or ancestors of different origins

Identity: Who or what someone or something is

Identity card: a card that establishes someone’s identity

Rights and Responsibilities

Rights and responsibilities are best thought of as two sides of the same coin.

  • You have the right to own a bike and responsibility to ride it carefully so that you don’t endanger pedestrians or other road users
  • Everyone over the age of 18 has a right to buy fireworks, however it is the person’s responsibility to follow the firework code
  • Children have the right to an education but a responsibility not to disrupt lessons so that others can learn

Needs and wants

What you want and what you need are not the same thing. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) states you have the right to ‘clean drinking water and healthy food’ as its focus is on basic human rights and needs.

You need healthy food and water

-- you may want a MacDonald’s and a coke.

Key Words

Respect – to have a good opinion of someone

Responsibility – something it is your duty to door look after

Basic needs – items vital for living eg food, shelter, healthcare

Discrimination and Legal Rights

Everyone has the right to be treated fairly, equally and given opportunities.We have anti-discrimination laws to prevent and address any discrimination in the UK

The Sex Discrimination Act – used to protect women to ensure that they are given the same opportunities as men e.g. promotion at the workplace.

The Race Relations Act – it’s an offence to treat people differently on the grounds of race, colour, and nationality or ethnic origin.

The Disability Discrimination Act – ensures that a disability does not stop a person from being employed unless it stops them from doing a job. A deaf person working in an office should be given a video phone to allow them to work like anyone else

The Equality Act 2010: this act protects us from being discriminated against on the grounds of:

age disability gender identity and gender reassignment

marriage or civil partnership (in employment only)

pregnancy and maternity

race religion or belief sex sexual orientation

Key words

Discrimination (sex, racial, religious or disability) – treating someone less favourably because of their colour, ethnic origins, gender of disability etc…

Compensation – making amends for something; something given to make good a loss

Legal Rights

However not all countries have made the basic human rights legal rights – this is why human rights are sometimes hard to enforce

Legal rights often have age limits

Basic rights are limited by the law:

  • You cannot take responsibility for a crime if you are under the age of 10
  • You cannot get a part time job if you are under the age of 13 except if it is areas like: theatre or modelling
  • You cannot get married, leave education, work full time, buy a lottery ticket or ride a moped if you are under the age of 16
  • You cannot vote in an election, make a will or buy fireworks if you are under the age of 18

Although these laws are against some of the basic human rights, they were made to protect young adults.

When a law protects a human right, it becomes a legal right:

Human right / Law
Right to a fair wage
Right for equal pay for equal work
The right to access to a public place / Minimum Wage Act (1998) made it a legal right that all adult workers in England and Wales must be paid the minimum wage
The Sex Discrimination Act made it a legal right to have equal pay, so that males & females are paid equal pay for equal work
The Disability Discrimination Act makes it a legal requirement for all public buildings/places to provide good access for all people: schoolsor libraries

Key words

Discrimination (racial, sex and disability): Treating someone less favourably because of their colour, ethnic origins, gender or disability

Legal Right: A right that is protected by the law

Act: a law passed by parliament

Rights for all?

Human Rights in the UK

The UK adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and included it in our laws through the Human Rights Act 1998.This is the UK’s own law on Human Rights and means that in the UK we have to abide by the law. It states that all organisations have a duty to protect the rights of all individuals in the UK

As a member of the European Union we are also protected by the:

1950 The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)

This is a framework that European countries have to work within. If someone in their country doesn’t think they had a fair response from the courts, they can take their case to the Human Court of Human Rights.

Human Rights around the world

There are many countries around the world were people’s rights are not protected by law. Since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights though there has been significant progress made in protecting everyone’s rights, in large part due to the work of the United Nations.

Over the last 20 years....

  • The number of children who die before the age of 5 has fallen from 13-9 million
  • More than 2.5 billion people have gained access to improved drinking water
  • About 1.8 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation (toilets)

However there is still a lot more to do, such as...

  • 22 million births are unregistered every year. Half of these are in India and Bangladesh
  • More than 300,000 children are currently serving as child soldiers
  • About 61 million children are out of school
  • 775 million adults can’t read or write

UN’s views of the UK

The UN believes that the UK are failing to meet international standards on some human rights such as not allowing prisoners the right to vote, the treatment of children in the juvenile criminal justice system and the protection of young asylum seekers.

Political Rights

In the UK we have political rights; we are entitled ‘to vote and to be elected at genuine elections which shall be held by secret ballot’.This means that we live in a democracy whereby everyone over the age of 18 can vote and can also stand as a candidate in an election.

Who can we vote for?

  • Locally – people you vote for locally to represent your town or rural community is a councillor. Their your first point of contact if you are concerned about an issue
  • Nationally – each part of a country (e.g. city or county) is represented by a member of parliament (MP). People will vote for the person who’s views they agree with most
  • Internationally – The European Union has its own parliament and we also elect members of the European parliament to represent us, they will have a say in the plans that are proposed for Europe

Freedom of speech

In the UK we have a free say to what we like as long as we don’t say anything discriminatory against others, inciting violence. People organise campaigns to protest against things they don’t like.

Without these freedoms our political rights would be meaningless because it would be very difficult to oppose the government or protest against activities of other organisations

The UN and political rights

Article 21 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights says ‘everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through a freely chosen representative

Political rights / democracy in the UK

Years ago the only people who could vote were land owners. In Manchester, 1819 people protesting were killed; troops were sent to break up the 50,000 crowd. This was known as the Peterloo massacre. Before 1832 only 1 in 10 men could vote.

The Suffragette movement campaigned for women to get the vote through a range of methods: hunger strikes, chaining themselves to railings outside public buildings, one women even threw herself under the kings horse at the races! Many women were arrested and jailed. Some were force fed when they went on hunger strike.

By 1918 all men and women over 30 years were allowed to vote.

By 1928, this was all men and women over the age of 21.

In 1970 the voting age was reduced to 18

Democracy across the world

Gender – women in Switzerland couldn’t vote until 1971, Afghan women have to vote in separate areas to men

Race – in the USA African Americans couldn’t vote until 1960’s. In South African black people were not allowed to vote until 1994.

Key Words

Councillor - a member of a local council, elected by people in the area

Democracy – governed by the people so that people have a say, either directly or through elected representatives (MP)

Election – selection of one or more people for an official position (Prime Minister) by voting

Member of Parliament (MP) – a person who has been elected to represent a part of a country in parliament

Member of the European Parliament – a person who has been elected to represent a part of the country in the European parliament

Political rights – rights to take part in elections and other democratic activities

Suffrage – the right to vote Suffragette – person who campaigned for the right of women to vote

Religious Understanding

Most of the UK’s ethnic minorities live in large cities such as London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. Religious diversity is a result of people settling here over many years, mostly from Britain’s former colonies (countries we ruled). The main ethnic minority groups and their religions are:

Bangladeshis: Mostly Muslims (small number of Hindus)

Indians (Punjabis): Mostly Sikh, some Hindus

Indians (Gujeratis): Mostly Hindus, some Muslims

Pakistanis: Muslim

Chinese: Christian, Confucian and Buddhist

Afro-Caribbean’s: Christian and Rastafarian

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights – formed by the United Nations in 1948 states that:

“Everyone is free to follow any religion or choose to follow none. Nobody should be prevented from following the religion of their choice”

Key Words:

Minority – a small part of a larger group of people

Tolerant: open minded and excepting

Employment rights: Responsibilities in the workplace

Employeesand employers have responsibilities. Details of employment should be made clear at the start of employment. Employees must carry out their responsibilities set out in their contract of employment. The contract of employment must be received within 8 weeks of starting a new job.

Contract of employment

The contract must be agreed by both sides and both sides have to uphold what is written in the contract of employment. If the employee fails to do what is agreed they can be dismissed. If an employer fails to do what is agreed the employee can take them to a tribunal.

The contract includes the following

  • Name of employer and employee
  • Entitlement to sick pay
  • Starting date
  • Pension details (if any)
  • Rate of pay
  • Working hours
  • Complains and disciplinary procedures
  • Place of work
  • Conditions for ending the employment
  • Holiday entitlement

Dismissal

People can be dismissed immediately due to:

  • Incompetence (unable to do the job properly)
  • Fighting
  • Discrimination
  • Deliberate damage
  • Theft

Minor misconduct such as bad time keeping, has to go through the following procedure

1stVerbal warning

2ndWritten warning

3rdDismissal

Redundancy

This is when a job has ended and no-one will be taking your place. The employee receives redundancy pay which is usually a month’s pay for every year employed.

Disagreements over dismissal

If there is a disagreement then the case can be taken to an employment tribunal. This is a type of court of law that has the power to fine businesses if they were in the wrong.

Key words

Contract of employment – a document that details employers and employees responsibilities for a job

Dismissal – when employers end an employee’s contract of employment (sometimes called sacking)

Employment Tribunal – a type of court dealing only with disagreements with employment laws

Redundancy – when a person loses their job because their job doesn’t need to be done anymore

Warning – written or spoken warning given by an employer to an employee if the employer thinks the employee has been breaking the contract if employment

Fair Play at Work

Employment laws exist to protect employees and make sure businesses carry out their responsibilities towards their staff. Before employment laws employees suffered from

  • Working long hours
  • Working in dangerous and unhealthy working conditions
  • Poor pay
  • Not being treated as individuals

Employees could not argue with these conditions as there was no such things as employment benefit or sickness pay.

Unions

Trade unions were set up by employees who negotiate with employers for fairer agreements on things such as pay. Over the years these have led to huge improvements in working environments. Unions have proved to be effective pressure groups.

Laws

  • The Equal Pay Act – men and women doing the same job should be paid the same amount
  • The Contract of Employment – agreement between employer and employee on pay and holiday entitlements
  • The Sex Discrimination and Race Relations Act – protect people being treated differently because of gender or ethnicity for example
  • The Equality Act – protects people from discrimination on the basis of age, religion and sexual orientation (gay/lesbian)
  • The Disability Discrimination Act – people who are disabled must be given the same opportunities
  • Health and Safety Act – to provide employees with a safe working environment, to ensure they are trained in safety in the workplace

Key words

Employment Law – laws are passed by Parliament and by the European Union law making bodies that set out the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees

European Union – a group of 27 countries that work together in fields such as the environment, social issues, the economy and trade

Pressure Group – a group of people that try to influence and change public opinion or government policy to its own views or beliefs